Some of President Trump’s judicial nominees have faced questioning from Democrat senators that seems more like a religious inquisition than discussion of judicial philosophy and temperament. The senators’ motives appear troublingly anti-faith. I posted about it here yesterday. Town Hall published a modified version today. Please check it out at the link below.

Some of President Trump’s judicial nominees have faced questions from Democrat senators that seem more like a religious inquisition than a discussion of judicial philosophy and temperament. Notre Dame law professor Amy Barrett was confirmed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals last week, but not before having a notable exchange with Sen. Diane Feinstein who challenged her on a number of Catholic teachings and concluded: “The dogma lives loudly within you and that is concerning.” Sen. Dick Durbin probed another fine point of jurisprudence, asking: “Do you consider yourself an orthodox Catholic?” Both senators voted against Barrett in committee and in the full Senate.

Feinstein and Durbin’s queries drew widespread criticism. Some suggested Democrats were hazardously close to imposing a religious–or more precisely, an anti-religious–test for confirmation. Other major media, however, pressed on, trying to keep nominees’ religious beliefs a viable question mark for confirmation. “Some Worry About Judicial Nominee’s Ties to a Religious Group” fretted The New York Times.The Times printed a lengthy article questioning Barrett’s membership in an interfaith group called People of Faith, that promotes integrating biblical principles into members’ personal and family lives. The Atlantic was surprisingly politically candid, and observed that conservative religious positions on issues like marriage or abortion will make nominees targets for interrogation. “What’s the line between examining a nominee’s religious convictions and believing those convictions disqualify her from serving the country?” The magazine was marking a path for Democrat senators to keep testing that line.

They are trying. Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asked district court nominee Trevor McFadden about his church’s teachings on gay clergy, the definition of marriage, and the roles of mothers and fathers in families. Whitehouse then asked McFadden if he would be able to follow Supreme Court precedent that reaches results different from the tenets of his faith. National Review writer Ramesh Ponnuru illustrates that this seemingly reasonable question might seem less reasonable if Republicans quizzed members of liberal congregations whether they could fairly enforce such policies as immigration law or the First Amendment rights of religious employers who object to funding abortion. Best to query directly about matters of policy and philosophy directly, without rooting them in a nominee’s religious beliefs.

It’s also important to recognize the bigger picture. These questions are part of a longer term trend to marginalize traditional religious beliefs and make believers somehow exotic and unacceptable.

One early such skirmish arose from Sen. Marco Rubio’s famous interview with GQ Magazine, when, unrelated to any other topic, the interviewer asked Rubio how old he believes the earth is. Rubio, then thought to be an early presidential frontrunner responded a bit clumsily and noncommittally. Of course the game was to either force Rubio to affirm a personal belief the earth is 4.5 billion years old—disturbing some of his fundamentalist religious supporters–or to mock and stigmatize him–and all others—who might hedge on commonly accepted scientific knowledge.

This position, stretched to its logical end, amounts to demanding that politicians reject belief in God’s divinity and supremacy. That is, it countenances loyalty only to a god who exercises no will or power or doctrinal demands beyond passively upholding the principles set forth in Science 101. The random question was untethered from public policy, from issues in the US Senate, or measures Rubio might pursue. It arose from a singular goal unrelated to reporting current events: GQ wanted to conjure an effective wedge question and discredit or embarrass a believing conservative.

Major national media took that ball and ran with it. If unchecked, this trend will take politics in an ugly, anti-religious direction. The slope it heads down would eliminate the reasonable space of co-existence between matters of physical science and matters of faith, doctrine, and belief. Traditionally, it has been possible to accept and apply all the knowledge that science offers while still believing there is divine power and truth that can’t be caught and measured under a microscope.

Some on the left want to end the accommodation, leaving only the science text as publicly acceptable. I experienced this around the time of the Rubio story. A Democratic activist posted on social media chortling about Rubio’s discomfort. I responded by questioning the relevance and good faith of GQ’s question. Suddenly, several other liberals were on the thread, demanding my answer to the same query.

Their interest in getting a term-limited state lawmaker on record was surprising. Their reasoning was revealing and troubling. The earth’s age is determined by scientific measurements of carbon, radioactivity, and other phenomena. Those technologies also inform the operation of nuclear reactors, radiation therapy, and a host of other modern processes. If someone believes in a literal account of biblical creation, then he’s a threat to modernity, technology, comfort.

It’s easy to see where the demands of this absolute thinking can lead:

Do you believe in the Virgin birth? Then how can we trust you to oversee HHS programs and youth sex education? If you won’t swear absolute allegiance to the principles of biological reality and sexual autonomy, then you are a menace.

Do you believe there was a Biblical flood? Is that established in the geologic record? How can you be trusted to oversee the Department of the Interior, the Geological Survey or BLM?

Did Moses part the Red Sea? You must be kept away from the National Weather Service.

Do you believe Jesus walked on the water to his disciples in the boat? Then how can you oversee a Navy that relies on conventional flotation physics to design its ships?

Do you believe He ascended after His resurrection? You are disqualified from commanding the Air Force: It relies on Newtonian physics to harness aerodynamics.

Do you believe in resurrection at all? How can we trust you to make life and death decisions if you believe life is just a dress rehearsal and we all get a do over?

Only creativity limits the attacks on traditional faith and the grounds to exclude believers.

If the Left has its way, the only learning and belief that will be okay to acknowledge is what comes from public school. That must eclipse and silence anything that comes from Sunday School.

My Dad Spencer Hatch died three years ago. I want to thank my sister, Mila Clark, for posting this account on Veterans Day 2014 on her blog, PatrioticMoms.com. Visit her site and give her a like on Facebook here: facebook.com/PatrioticMoms/
Dad was a brave man, and I note, a crisp writer.

My wonderful Dad passed away less than two months ago. I’m missing him extra today. Our family always called him on Veterans Day and asked him to share stories with us from when he was an eighteen-year-old pilot serving in the Navy in World War II. Instead of calling him today we pulled out his life history and read some of his experiences. I’d like to share one with you.

On April 14, 1945 about 20 planes were sent from our carrier to neutralize the airfield on Ishigaki Island. I was the lead fighter plane in the attack. We strafed and fired our rockets at gun installations. The bombers followed and bombed the airfield. Lt. Bitner’s bomber lost a wing on the second run. He had time to bail out. His two crewmen went in with the plane; they did not have a chance. Bitner’s chute opened and he landed near the north end of the runway.I make a quick strafing run over the area to keep ground forces down and then rallied the fighters and we made repeated strafing runs on every gun we could see–especially in the area where Bitner landed. We made passes from west to east indicating the direction Bitner should travel to get off the island for a rescue pick up at sea. We strafed until we ran out of ammunition. I went down one last time for a close look at the parachute to be certain he got free from the harness. He did. No one was near the chute.

Recovering from this last run and at low altitude but at high speed my plane was hit twice. One large shell grazed the main spar of the plane and exploded blowing a large hole in the left side of the fuselage behind the armor plating protecting the pilot. The explosion knocked out my radio but did not damage the flight controls. The second shell passed through my right wing, just barely missing the wing tank. I took strong evasive action, regained altitude, rendezvoused the fighters and passed the lead over to Frank Soares. We returned to the carrier. My division spent ten hours in the air that day with most of it under combat conditions.

It was this type of action that cost my friend, Jack Link, his life the day before.

For this, and other action, our Squadron Commander recommended me for an award.

(My Dad only included a small part of the Citation in his history. The full Citation is below.)

CITATION

For extraordinary achievement while participating in serial fight in action against the enemy in the vicinity of the Ryukyu Islands on 28 March 1945 when he single-handedly braved one of the notorious nests of anti-aircraft guns in the islands to protect a bomber of his squadron. His courageous and aggressive strafing of these batteries silenced several weapons and diverted fire of others to himself, enabling the bomber successfully to complete an important mission.

And then again on 14 April 1945, when a bomber of his squadron was shot down during an attack on an airfield in the southern Ryukyu area, he gambled bravely on saving any possible survivor even at the possible sacrifice of himself.

In the face of intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire which damaged his aircraft, he launched a low-level, solo strafing attack on the area adjoining the crash, hoping to check enemy ground forces until any survivor should escape.

Later, rallying his division, he led them in repeated strafing runs over the area. He broke off the attack only when close observation made it apparent that any survivor had escaped.

The bright courage of this officer was an inspiration to his entire squadron and was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service!

We live in uncomfortably interesting times. The brawling between President Trump and the media may be unprecedented. One part of the scrum is all too precedented, however. The media is portraying itself in a heroic light and smearing President Trump as a bully aggressor. This is self serving nonsense.

The media is an eager participant in this cage match. It means to take a president down. It has shown itself not above stretching or inventing facts to suit its narrative. Town Hall ran my column describing the latest volleys. Your comments would be welcome and appreciated.